A Retrospective: Important Dates in New York State Golf History

Each month, the NYSGA features historical moments in New York golf history by golf historian Kevin Casey.

A look back at November dates...

December 21, 1892 – Walter Hagan was born in Rochester, the only son of working-class parents. Caddying early at the Country Club of Rochester, Hagan became a professional golfer in his mid-teens and played in his first high-level PGA Tour event at 19, coming in 11th at the 1912 Canadian Open. In 1914, he won his first major championship, the U.S. Open.

Hagen won the U.S. Open twice and became the first native-born American to win the British Open Championship (eventually winning four). He won the PGA Championship a record-tying five times. Hagan’s total of 11 major championships today trails only Jack Nicklaus (18) and Tiger Woods (15). Hagen totaled 45 PGA wins and was a six-time Ryder Cup captain.

Not just talented, Hagan was a strong personality with a flair for the dramatic. He is often credited for elevating respect for golf professionals and the still-young PGA Tour. Voted by Golf Digest magazine in 2000 as the seventh greatest golfer of all time, Hagan remains today New York’s most decorated golfer.

December 22, 1894 – The USGA was formed at the Calumet Club in downtown Manhattan. On a mission to administer an event to determine a true national amateur champion, the organization was initially named the Amateur Golf Association of the United States. The five charter clubs included two from New York State: St. Andrew’s Golf Club (Yonkers) and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (Southampton). Chicago Golf Club (Illinois), Newport Golf Club (Rhode Island), and The Country Club (Massachusetts) rounded out the fivesome.

The association quickly saw that its mission should extend beyond the amateur game to professional golfers as well and renamed itself the more inclusive United States Golf Association. In 1895, the USGA held its first championship, the U.S. Open, at Newport GC. Since then, 28 New York state sites have hosted 75 USGA Championships (third among all states), including a record 20 U.S. Opens.

December 25, 1890 – William Flynn, one of America's most celebrated designers of the Golden Age of Golf Course Architecture, was born. Flynn designed or redesigned around 80 courses between 1910 and 1940, including world-renowned venues in New York such as Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (Long Island) and Westchester Country Club, as well as regional gems such as Onondaga Golf and Country Club (redesign), and Monroe Country Club.

Flynn was considered a master of course routing who did his best to work with the land he was given. With a hand in at least three courses in Golf Digest’s current Top 10 Golf Courses in America (New Jersey’s Pine Valley Golf Club (#1), Shinnecock Hills (#4), and Philadelphia’s Merion Golf Club (#6), each approximately a century old, one should add another adjective in describing Fynn’s work: forward-thinking.

Kevin Casey (kevincasey36@gmail.com) is the primary author of the NYSGA’s centennial booklet, Our First 100 Years, 1923-2023

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